"This is a study from Dr. Jakicic in which he compared different levels of activity--from < 150, 150 to 250, 250 to 300, and > 300 minutes per week--and it's the 300-minute group down here that were able to maintain their weight loss the best. So it's a substantial amount of exercise. That's about 40 minutes a day of brisk walking for people, so it takes a good bit of time to do it, but from the health benefits, it's clearly worthwhile."Citation source: http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/754196_transcript

Gratitude is always a good thing because it helps us to keep Life in perspective. We take so many things for granted that we don't appreciate what we have until we don't have it anymore.

I like Research!America's annual "Public Health Thank You Day" because it puts what is my greatest love, Public Health, on the forefront, even if it's just for one day a year.

Here's a great video that shows the scope of Public Health.

A re-posting of my 2009 blog entry: Here are some of things we can be thankful for, with many thanks to all the Public Health Professionals, at all levels of practice, who have dedicated their careers to protecting the Public's Health in a variety of ways...

Waking up this morning from clean bedding that is not contaminated by pathogens;

Using a bathroom so human waste is disposed of properly;

Being able to drink water from the faucet without getting some disease;

Being able to eat breakfast without getting some disease;

Dropping off your kids in schools knowing they won't get sick because everyone got their immunizations;

Driving to work and not being exposed to harmful emissions from motor vehicles;

Going to work and spending the day in an environment that won't make you sick;

Going to lunch and eating in a restaurant that's been inspected;

Going for a walk and not being exposed to second-hand smoke or rotting garbage;

Getting a haircut and knowing those cutting your hair have been licensed;

Going to see health care professionals and knowing they are competent because they are licensed to practice;

Going to any health care facility and knowing they are licensed;

Going to bed and feeling safe because disaster preparedness exists at every level of government.

This bar graph displays the years of life gained when participants met various percentages of HHS guidelines for physical activity. 50% = 1.8 years. 100% = 3.4 years. 200% = 4.2 years. 300% = 4.5 years.

According to November 2012's "NIH study finds leisure-time physical activity extends life expectancy as much as 4.5 years"

"Leisure-time physical activity is associated with longer life expectancy, even at relatively low levels of activity and regardless of body weight, according to a study by a team of researchers led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study, which found that people who engaged in leisure-time physical activity had life expectancy gains of as much as 4.5 years.

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,...recommends that adults ages 18 to 64 engage in regular aerobic physical activity for 2.5 hours at moderate intensity or 1.25 hours at vigorous intensity each week. Moderate activities are those during which a person could talk but not sing. Vigorous activities are those during which a person could say only a few words without stopping for breath.

After accounting for other factors that could affect life expectancy, the researchers found that life expectancy was 3.4 years longer for people who reported they got the recommend level of physical activity. People who reported leisure-time physical activity at twice the recommended level gained 4.2 years of life. In general, more physical activity corresponded to longer life expectancy."

The researchers even saw benefit at low levels of activity. For example, people who said they got half of the recommended amount of physical activity still added 1.8 years to their life.

"Our findings highlight the important contribution that leisure-time physical activity in adulthood can make to longevity." said study author Steven Moore, Ph.D., of NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and lead author of the study. Regular exercise extended the lives in every group that we examined in our study normal weight, overweight, or obese.

The researchers found that the association between physical activity and life expectancy was similar between men and women, and blacks gained more years of life expectancy than whites. The relationship between life expectancy and physical activity was stronger among those with a history of cancer or heart disease than among people with no history of cancer or heart disease."

Below Basic Level Definition: Adults at the below basic level have only the most elementary literacy skills. These skills range from being non- literate in English to being able to locate easily identifiable information in short, commonplace prose text. An adult at the below basic literacy level might be able to locate and circle the date of a medical appointment on a hospital appointment slip. (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/findtraining/onlinecourse.html)

October 27, 2016 - Where Are We Getting Our Calories From

Graphic source:http://www.vox.com/a/explain-food-america

October 26, 2016 - Effect of Body Weight and Physical Activity on Life Expectancy

Graphic source: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2012/nci-06.htm

This bar graph displays years of life loss at various body weights and levels of activity (met guidelines, 50 of guidelines, and inactive). For normal weight, the years lost by activity level were 0, 2.4 and 4.7. For overweight, 0. 1.8 and 3.9. For Obese Level 1 (BMI under 35), 1.6, 3.2, and 5. For Obese Level 2 (BMI over 35), 4.5, 6.2, 7.2.

According to November 2012's "NIH study finds leisure-time physical activity extends life expectancy as much as 4.5 years"

"The researchers also examined how life expectancy changed with the combination of both activity and obesity. Obesity was associated with a shorter life expectancy, but physical activity helped to mitigate some of the harm. People who were obese and inactive had a life expectancy that was between five to seven years shorter (depending on their level of obesity) than people who were normal weight and moderately active."

"Supermoon eclipses are so rare they have happened just five times since 1900. The last one was in 1982 and if you miss the one on Sunday, Sept. 27, you'll have to wait for the next one which won't happen until 2033. (Video courtesy of NASA) (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=7&v=s90PJHnftwc)

September 29, 2016 - Calbuco Chile

September 28, 2016 - Prevalence of Self-Reported Obesity Among Hispanic Adults by State and Territory, BRFSS, 2013-2015

Graphic source: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

September 27, 2016 - National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day September 27, 2016

Estimates of New HIV Infections in the United States for the Most-Affected Subpopulations, 2010 Graphic source: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/index.html

September 26, 2016 - Prevalence of Self-Reported Obesity Among Non-Hispanic Black Adults by State and Territory, BRFSS, 2013-2015

Graphic source: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

September 23, 2016 - Prevalence of Self-Reported Obesity Among Non-Hispanic White Adults by State and Territory, BRFSS, 2013-2015

Graphic source: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

September 22, 2016 - Prevalence of Self-Reported Obesity Among U.S. Adults by State and Territory, BRFSS, 2015

Graphic source: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

September 21, 2016 - US Obesity State Map, by Race, 2014

Notes
Figures for white and black populations do not include Hispanics.
Insufficient data to calculate prevalence rates for black residents of Idaho and Montana.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Credit: Alyson Hurt/NPR
Graphic created by BC Jung from graphics at http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/23/442801737/obesity-maps-put-racial-differences-on-stark-display

Let us never forget all the innocent lives that were lost on that fateful day, and once again thank all the brave civil servants who died in the line duty. Many thanks to Suzanvitti.org for these wonderful graphics.

It is hard to believe that it has been 16 years since I published the first webpages that turned into this Web site. Many thanks to the thousands of visitors who contributed millions of hits during the past 15 years, and for all the nice comments along the way. I will continue to strive to make this Web site a worthwhile place to spend your time and find credible public health and health information. Thank you so much!

August 2, 2016 - World Health Statistics 2016: Monitoring health for the SDGs

Now available. "The World Health Statistics series is WHO's annual compilation of health statistics for its 194 Member States.
World Health Statistics 2016 focuses on the proposed health and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and associated targets. It represents an initial effort to bring together available data on SDG health and health-related indicators. In the current absence of official goal-level indicators, summary measures of health such as (healthy) life expectancy are used to provide a general assessment of the situation." (Source: http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/2016/en/

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, killing 292,188 women in 2009 that's 1 in every 4 female deaths.

Although heart disease is sometimes thought of as a "man's disease," around the same number of women and men die each year of heart disease in the United States. Despite increases in awareness over the past decade, only 54% of women recognize that heart disease is their number 1 killer.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for African American and white women in the United States. Among Hispanic women, heart disease and cancer cause roughly the same number of deaths each year. For American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islander women, heart disease is second only to cancer.

About 5.8% of all white women, 7.6% of black women, and 5.6% of Mexican American women have coronary heart disease.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of women who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms.4 Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.

The CDC has been compiling leading causes of death in females almost annually since 1998.

Overall, heart disease (22.9%) is the leading cause of death, followed by cancer (21.8%). This is not necessarily true for all women of color. Heart disease is only the leading cause of death for white and black females. Cancer is the leading cause of death for American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific Islander and Hispanic females!

While, overall, stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death for females, this is only true for African-American, Hispanic &amp Asian women, while it is the 7th cause of death for American Indian/Alaskan Native women, and the 4th for white women, following chronic lower respiratory disease, probably due to smoking.

Such mortality data indicate the importance of looking at such disparities by race and ethnicity as it helps to identify areas that may be missed by just looking at the overall population. For example, tobacco cessation messages may need to target white women more, while encouraging cancer screening among women of color would help to reduce the greater cancer mortality among these women.

July 8, 2016 - A Timeline of CDC/ATSDR Contributions to Women's Health

It is hard to believe that it has been 16 years since I published the first webpages that turned into this Web site. Many thanks to the thousands of visitors who contributed millions of hits during the past 15 years, and for all the nice comments along the way. I will continue to strive to make this Web site a worthwhile place to spend your time and find credible public health and health information. Thank you so much!

October 17, 2014 - October is Health Literacy Month

Graphic source: http://www.healthliteracymonth.org/

Be a Health Literacy Hero! I am!

For Health Literacy Month, the Healthliteracymonth.org is accepting stories from any person who or organization that addresses health literacy in their work. There is a listing of those who have submitted their stories.